Sudan probes Darfur rebels
2007-09-10 15:29
Khartoum - Sudan is investigating six Darfur rebel leaders it suspects masterminded a bloody attack on a government base, says the Justice Ministry.
Sudanese state media reported that the officials were preparing arrest warrants for the six members of rebel of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). But, Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi said officials were still investigating the scene of the attack and no decisions on warrants had been made.
Khartoum said 41 people were killed after JEM rebels attacked a police base in the town of Wad Banda in Kordofan region, 200km from the border with Darfur late last month.
The justice minister said: "Prosecutors are in the area and there are legal actions to be taken.
"If it turns out that these people have left the country then it would be appropriate to consider arrest warrants through Interpol. The question of arrest warrants inside Sudan is for the security council in the area."
Violence, lawlessness
JEM claimed responsibility for the August 29 attack, but insisted it was on a military base, manned by 1 700 troops and used for launching government-backed raids against southern Darfur. The government denied the charges.
JEM commanders were not immediately available for comment.
The announcement of the investigation came seven weeks before the start of peace talks between Khartoum and rebel groups, expected to take place in Libya on October 27.
It also coincided with fresh reports of violence and lawlessness in war-torn Darfur.
The United Nations on Monday reported crowds of displaced Sudanese had killed four men who had tried to hijack the world body's vehicle in south Darfur's Kalma camp on Thursday. A day earlier, gunmen killed one resident of the nearby Bilal camp and kidnapped another.
9 000 people killed
International experts estimated that 200 000 people had died in more than four years of conflict in Darfur and 2.5 million others had been driven from their homes by rape, looting and killing. Washington called the violence genocide, a term European governments were reluctant to use.
Khartoum said only 9 000 people had been killed, blaming Western media for exaggerating the conflict.
Despite the persisting unrest, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who wrapped up a six-day tour of Sudan, Libya and Chad on Sunday, said that "credible progress" had been made towards peace in Darfur.
Ban said the priority now was to persuade as many Darfur rebel groups as possible to attend the Libyan talks.
Riek Machar, the vice-president of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan, flew to France late on Sunday with a team of senior politicians to try and persuade one key Darfur rebel leader to attend the negotiations.
Abdel Wahid Mohamed el-Nur, the Paris-based founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement, had so far refused to take part, demanding an end to hostilities in Darfur before talks.